1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle approach informing device configured to inform pedestrians and the like outside a vehicle that the vehicle is approaching.
2. Related Art
Conventional vehicles are primarily a gasoline powered vehicle which runs using an engine as a drive source, and so a pedestrian can identify the presence of a vehicle by the engine sound generated by the vehicle when the vehicle is approaching from the rear or a blind spot of the pedestrian. However, no engine sound is generated by a vehicle such as an electric vehicle and a hybrid vehicle which run using an electric motor as a drive source, and it is difficult for a pedestrian to recognize whether the vehicle is approaching, by the sound of the vehicle.
Thus, vehicles equipped with an informing device have been proposed, the informing device being configured to output sound for informing people outside the vehicle such as pedestrians that the vehicle is approaching. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-40318 discloses a vehicle approach informing device configured to output simulated sound of tire noise from a speaker provided at the front end of a vehicle when the vehicle is running at a speed lower than or equal to a predetermined vehicle speed, the simulated sound having the same tone as that of the actual tire noise.
However, in an area such as a residential area or a tunnel where a shield such as a wall is installed. on each side of a road, sound reverberates through the shield and tends to be amplified. When informing sound for informing vehicle approach. is outputted in such an area, the informing sound reverberates and is amplified. The amplified informing sound may not only give discomfort to a driver, but also become annoying noise to the surroundings.